The present invention relates to a design information management system, a design information access device and a program memory medium. More specifically, the present invention relates to a design information management system which performs design information management as a data transmission method from a design stage to a manufacturing stage.
For manufacturing devices having various constituent components, the designer (or design group also more generically referred to as the design department) designs the individual components using 3-dimensional CAD software and the like, and delivers drawings of a designed 3-dimensional model data to a manufacturing group (manufacturing department). The manufacturing group, consulting the design information contained in the drawings, performs manufacture of the devices and their constituent components.
In such a design/manufacturing system, the principal technology is typically one of the following:
(a) In work stations loaded with a 3-dimensional modeling system, 3-dimensional model data is managed by independent data management methods. PA1 (b) Drawings are prepared as manufacturing data from individual 3-dimensional model data. The manufacturing drawings are managed and intensified for distribution using a separate computer. The printed out paper drawings are then distributed to the manufacturing positions. PA1 (c) The common component data of plurality of devices or components used in common, provides data to the design side based on common component management provision. PA1 #1: The same component information is scattered among various workstations, making centralized data management is impossible. This also implies the duplication of work. PA1 #2: When designing components which resemble existing components whose model data are not in the industrial workstations, it is impossible to utilize existing model data. PA1 #3: Because design changes are individually incorporated into the model, it is difficult to grasp the effects of the individual components which constitute the device as a whole. The problem is multiplied when the various individual components are being designed on a high number of different individual workstations. PA1 #4: Because there is no unitary management of the device and components, the change process, etc., of model data is individually carried out. PA1 #1: Because the distributed manufacturing data are paper drawings, data has to be transmitted to a workstation, which performs special processing, for practical use of this raw data. PA1 #2: Because the computer used for management of manufacturing drawings and the computer used for creation and storage of the 3-dimensional model data are different, there is no linking relationship between the drawings management information and the 3-dimensional model data. PA1 #1: Devices and components using common components cannot be managed. PA1 #2: Notification of changes in common components is slow, increasing development time, hindering of component preparation.
Management is limited to the individual work stations.
The technology involved with option (a) has the following problems:
The technology involved with option (b) has the following problems:
The technology involved with option (c) has the following problems: